Cavs' Kyrie Irving named All-Star

CLEVELAND - The Cavaliers Kyrie Irving has been named to his first All-Star team.

Irving has been voted as a reserve for the Eastern Conference. The NBA All-Star Game will be played next month in Houston.

Irving is the first Cavalier to make the All-Star team since LeBron James in 2010.

Irving learned about the award at the Cleveland Sports Awards banquet. He was the NBA's Rookie of the Year in 2012.

The voting for reserves was done by the Eastern Conference head coaches.

"I'm truly blessed and thankful for the opportunity that the NBA has afforded me," Irving said.

"This is more of a blessing for our team and the city of Cleveland and that's what it's mainly about. I'm just really happy and excited for this opportunity."

Irving, 20, is currently averaging 23.7 points per game (3rd overall in the East and first in the league among point guards) on .467 shooting, to go along with 5.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 35.7 minutes per game. He is also shooting .841 from the free throw line and .399 from three-point range.

The 6-foot-3, 191-pound point guard is one of only two players (LeBron James) in the East averaging at least 20 points and five assists.

He has scored 40 or more points twice this season, joining Carmelo Anthony as the only Eastern Conference players to score at least 40 points multiple times this year. Irving has the third-highest points per game average in the fourth quarter in the East at 6.1, which is also the highest among all point guards in the NBA.

Among Eastern Conference point guards with at least 30 starts, Irving's 22.3 PER is the highest.

"I'm extremely happy for Kyrie making the All Star team this year," Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant said.

"It certainly was well deserved. He's a guy that works very hard and is the epitome of who we want to be. He has grown as a player and a person here in Cleveland and we're looking forward to him continuing to do that."

The 62nd NBA All-Star Game will take place on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. EST in Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center.